The Houston Dynamo suffered shutout losses in their last two games to drop below the playoff line for the first time all season. So coming into Saturday's contest at New York City FC, they knew they had to make some tweaks to their attack.
In their 1-0 home loss to Colorado on Sept. 9, and again in their 1-0 defeat at San Jose last Saturday, Houston were done in by their opponents’ defensive discipline. Colorado were content to sit back and put numbers behind the ball; San Jose were more aggressive, but they were organized when they needed to be. Both strategies prevented Houston from doing what they do best: getting the ball wide and running straight at opposing defenses.
The book was out on Houston. If you could prevent them from breaking out on the counter, you could greatly limit their attack.
"It's not a secret that in this league all the teams study their opponent in depth and the other teams have figured us out," midfielder Juan David Cabezas told the Houston Chronicle earlier this week. "They know our strengths, our offensive virtues, specifically our speed on the wings. We have to be less predictable so we can be better at attacking.”
They certainly were on Saturday. Cabrera made the bold move to bench forwards Cubo Torres, Romell Quioto, and Alberth Elis at NYCFC. The three talented forwards have accounted for 26 of the Dynamo’s 47 goals this year, but have combined for just four strikes since July 5. In their place, he started Mauro Manotas, Vicente Sanchez, and Alex, switching out of the Dynamo’s familiar 4-3-3 into a more measured 4-2-3-1.
The move, which may have been made to keep the forward trio fresh for Houston’s home games against LA and Minnesota this week, mostly paid off. Houston were outshot and out-possessed by NYCFC, but they created a number of good opportunities in addition to Manotas’ first half goal and very easily could have won the 1-1 draw in East Hartford.
Sanchez was particularly effective, with the 37-year-old turning back the clock with a solid performance. It was his savvy move to quickly take a free kick that led to Manotas’ goal, and he nearly had a couple more assists before he was confusingly taken out in the 65th. Most of his production came from the middle, an area that the Dynamo have struggled to get output from for most of the year.
Elis entered for Sanchez, and he showed flashes of what’s made him so dangerous this year – and so frustrating in recent months. The Honduran had a great look in stoppage time to bury a counter and give Houston all three points, but had his effort denied by Sean Johnson.
That’s the sort of play the Dynamo need Elis to finish. They played decently in their new look and picked up a very solid road result on Saturday, but that tweaked setup probably won’t lead to the Dynamo making much noise in the playoffs. If they want to make an impact this fall, they’ll need Elis, Torres and Quioto (or Manotas) to start producing and the counterattack that worked so well early in the year to start firing again.
